


Distant memories of a fractured mind

by 10k_au



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 16:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8496898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10k_au/pseuds/10k_au
Summary: Cassandra and 10k are out on a run when 10k comes across a zombie that brings up some bad memories.





	

Cassandra passes me in the dark, her head cocking to check around the corner. She nods and waves for me to follow her. I lift my rifle and snap around the corner, my eyes scanning the hallway. It looks deserted, there’s not a single sound cutting through the still air, except your own footsteps.

“10k, do you not know how to be quiet?” Cassandra hisses, bumping a door to her right open and checking the room”

“I am being quiet!” I protest, shuffling past and checking the next door along. I hear her giggling a little, and it’s apparent that she’s taking the piss out of me. She appears at my side and rests her head on my arm for a second, flashing me big round puppy eyes.

“You’re really not” she mutters “you sound like an elephant.”

With a huff I rolled my eyes and returned to searching the place for supplies. What I really needed at the moment was water. The team was gasping, dry throats, and aching chests. I kicked an empty bottle across the floor and sighed. It didn’t seem as though there was going to be anything. The place was empty, no zombies. It had probably been picked over hundreds of times already.

Cassandra is opening medicine cabinets across from me, sweeping across empty pill bottles and boxes of finished sleeves. I give her one final look before pushing through another door into an adjoining room. The smell is the first thing to hit me, putrefaction. My nose wrinkling up involuntarily, I tightened my grip on my gun, swinging round and checking the corners of the room for any undead. Finding nothing I moved on to checking behind the tables and chairs littered around.

Finally I find what’s making the smell. A Z lays limp against a chair, it seems as though it’s been tied there, probably as a human. I swallow and shine my torch over the body.

There’s a knife stuck in his forehead.

After a moment of shock, pain engulfs my chest. I stumble backwards, falling into a table that breaks my fall before crashing to the floor. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, but not seeing the room that I’m in.

“I swear pa”

“Don’t swear, your mother doesn’t like that, promise me.”

“I promise.”

The Z snaps at me, black goo dripping from his mouth, running down his neck. I hold the knife up, gripping the handle tight, but frozen to the spot, finding myself unable to actually act. He struggles against the rope. IT struggles against the rope, it’s not him anymore, it’s not my Pa.

“10k! 10k, are you okay?”

The knife slides through the soft flesh, cracks into his skull. The body stops moving. My Pa stops moving.

“10k! What’s wrong, please?”

“Tommy” I mumble, the room still swimming, my eyes slicking up with tears that I thought I had already used up. Cassandra is knelt over me, she tucks a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and then leans in a little closer.

“Tommy?” she asks. “Who’s Tommy” 

My eyes struggle to focus on her, my mind trying to take me back to that road, to that night, to his death. I try to lift my head, shocked at how physically the memory has affected me.

“I am” I whisper. “Tommy is my name.”

She stares at me, mouth open a little, and then gently, her hand slips into mine and her fingers secure them together. She manages a little smile and she laughs softly, it sounds like music to me, ad strangely, it manages to pull me back towards reality.

“Tommy” she repeats. “I love it, it suits you”

“Tell no one” I croak, pulling myself up onto my elbows, and onto her level. She laughs again, more naturally this time, and helps me sit up. She regards me with what looks like worry, and I gaze over her shoulder at the Z opposite. She follows my line of sight and shakes her head a little.

“This is about your dad isn’t it?” she tries. My eyes snap back to her, taking her in, sat there as if I’m all that matters to her in that moment. I consider brushing her off like I normally did. But something made me change my mind. I nod a little, my eyes dropping.

“It’s okay” she smiled, squeezing my hand. “Take all the time you need, I get it.”

And she does. She’s not just saying it, she understands the pain, the images burnt into my head that I’m never going to be able to erase. She understands the blind fear when the memories take over all of your senses.

“Promise me, Tommy.”

“I promise Pa.”

“Tommy? 10k?” Cassandra takes my face in both of her hands, seeing me slipping away again. “Hey” she whispers as I look at her. Shaking a little, I try to smile at her. She stares deep into my eyes, into my soul. She strokes my cheek with her thumb gently, tilting her head to the side.

“It hurts” I manage.

“I know”

“Thank you” I add. I move my head forward, my eyes moving slowly from her gaze down to her lips. Instead of moving away like I assume she will, she closes the space between us and kisses me, softly like a wisp of air gliding across my mouth.

“I’m here for you” she whispers. “I always will be.”


End file.
